During a discussion on Wednesday, President Donald Trump conveyed doubts about the potential for Iran’s exiled Crown Prince, Reza Pahlavi, to assume leadership of the nation.

In an interview with Reuters conducted in the Oval Office, Trump remarked that although Pahlavi comes across as “very nice,” he was uncertain about the Iranian populace’s willingness to embrace the crown prince as their leader.

This dialogue unfolded shortly after Trump appeared to step back from the idea of a U.S. military intervention, a concept he had been hinting at in response to the Iranian regime’s harsh suppression of widespread protests.

Referring to Pahlavi, Trump stated, “He seems very nice, but I’m not sure how he’d be received in his own country.” He further clarified, “We’re not really at that point yet.”

Trump expressed, “I’m not certain if his country would accept his leadership, but if they did, I’d be okay with it.”

The president noted that the regime led by Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei might be vulnerable amidst the protests, acknowledging that “any regime can collapse.”

‘Whether or not it falls or not, it’s going to be an interesting period of time,’ Trump added. 

President Donald Trump was interviewed late Wednesday afternoon by Reuters and expressed uncertainty on whether Iran’s exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi could eventually lead the country

The 65-year-old former crown prince of Iran, Reza Pahlavi, fled the country amid the Iranian Revolution in 1979, when his father, the U.S.-backed Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, was replaced by the current Islamic Republic 

Pahlavi was born in Tehran – the son of U.S.-backed Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi – who Iranians overthrew in 1979, with the current Islamic Republic taking the monarchy’s place.

But with that came decades of repressive government, on display this week as news leaked out amid purposeful internet blackouts that at least 2,400 demonstrators were killed and another 18,000 were arrested by the regime. 

The 65-year-old Pahlavi, who lives in the Washington, D.C., suburbs, has played a vocal role in the protests from abroad, but on the ground, there appears to be little organized support for the country to again be ruled by the monarchy.

Trump said last week that he has no plans to meet with Pahlavi amid the turmoil in Iran. 

The president received criticism earlier Wednesday from anti-regime voices online, who used the term ‘TACO’ – ‘Trump always chickens out’ – against him, when he seemed to buy the word of the Iranians that killings and executions had stopped. 

On January 2 – as Trump was preparing to capture Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro – the president said the U.S. was ‘locked and loaded’ and would take military action against the Iranian regime if protesters were murdered. 

But on Wednesday, as Trump signed a law about whole milk in schools, he softened his tone.

‘We’ve been told that the killing in Iran is stopping, and it’s stopped and stopping, and there’s no plan for executions or an execution,’ Trump said.

He added, however, that if he finds that’s not the case, he would be ‘very upset.’  

President Donald Trump (right) speaks to Reuters’ Steve Holland (left), while Communications Director Steven Cheung (upper left) listens Wednesday afternoon from the Oval Office

The president has been trepidatious about backing regime change. 

In Venezuela, instead of turning to the opposition, which the U.S. said had won the 2024 election against Maduro, the U.S. government has currently partnered with Maduro’s No. 2, Delcy Rodriguez, who’s become the country’s acting president.

Trump told Reuters that he had had a ‘fascinating talk’ with Rodriguez earlier in the day, adding ‘she’s been very good to deal with.’  

He’s expected to meet with Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado at the White House on Thursday, who had initially planned to offer up her Nobel Peace Prize to the U.S. leader. 

Since then, the Norwegian group that gives out the annual prize stated that the prize can’t be transferred or shared. 

Trump had vocally lobbied for the prize last year. 

‘She’s a very nice woman,’ Trump said of Machado. ‘I’ve seen her on television. I think we’re just going to talk basics.’

On Iran, too, Trump has green-lit particular strikes, but hasn’t done enough to amount to regime change. 

In June, Trump ordered B-2 bombers to participate in Operation Midnight Hammer, a mission to take out Iran’s main three nuclear sites, Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan. 

In the early days of 2020, during the president’s first term, he also authorized a drone strike to kill Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Force General Qasem Soleimani, outside the Baghdad airport.